What’s Next For The Trump Shitshow
A Forecast
Welcome to Overview. Today I’ll be interviewing Eduard Fischer, author of The Enslaved Mind.
Ed: Welcome to the program Eduard.
Eduard: Thanks, Ed. It’s always a pleasure to be here.
Ed: Let’s start with why is Trump gutting the FBI and the CIA? After all, these agencies have intercepted dozens of terrorist plots and kept America safe. Doesn’t Trump want to keep America safe? Wouldn’t it be terrible for him if a mass-murder atrocity happened on his watch? His popularity would plummet?
Eduard: Like Bush’s did after 911?
Ed: Oh, right. His approval shot up big time with his War on Terror. But what would Trump push the blame on?
Eduard: How about the porous northern border?
Ed: Really?
Eduard: He’s already rehearsed that by citing the drug trade and immigrants.
Ed: Will he tighten the border then?
Eduard: More likely, abolish It.
Ed: What?
Eduard: Take over Canada and ferret out all the bomb-building socialists in the name of national security. He has stated he wants to annex Canada to the US.
Ed: But he has said that he would limit his takeover of Canada strategy to economic pressure.
Eduard: But Canadians won’t succumb to that. Many Americans assume that everyone wants to be an American. That is so not true.
Yes, Canadians want to keep their healthcare system, but it’s about much more than that. For one thing, they want to live in a country that has a rule of law. Trump tried to overthrow the government and got away with this crime and others because, as president, he had stacked the judiciary. He pardoned all the members of the insurrectionist January 6 mob, including the most violent ones. Further, even before this administration, the common application of instruments like civil forfeiture and plea bargaining often results in the punishment of innocent people. The present weaponization of the Justice Department and the persecution of people who attempted to investigate Trump’s crimes is sickening to watch.
Most Canadians are repelled by Trump’s lack of morals, cruelty, greed, ignorance, mendacity, lack of humor, and narcissism. The fact that 77 million Americans voted for him, and that another 90 million who were eligible to vote, were too apathetic to bother, says something very disturbing about the majority of Americans. Canadians are having second thoughts about mingling with them anywhere. Many Canadians are canceling their planned vacations to the US.
Ed: Several commentators in the United States, including Ross Douthat from the New York Times, have proposed that if Canada were to become the 51st state and gain representation in Congress based on its population of over 40 million, it would significantly impact US politics with a progressive influence.
Eduard: The Republicans would never cede that much power. They would invite Canada to become the 51st State, sure. If Canada agreed to this, it would give up its sovereignty and then wait while ostensibly details were sorted out before getting its statehood status. Canada would wait forever. It would be a US territory like Puerto Rico. Or Samoa.
Ed: Really? Trump’s term ends in four years, and he can’t run again. And the Republicans won’t be in power forever.
Eduard: I keep hearing that. “We have to put up with Trump for four more years.” Look, even if Trump dies in office tomorrow of a heart attack or something, Trumpism won’t die with him. The Republicans know now how easily they can subvert the institutions of government. And, tragically, they know that the people will let it happen. In the past, the US government relied on norms of conduct. And importantly, it relied on virtue, which the Republican Party has completely lost. All they care about now is power.
Ed: But Trump failed in his bid to overthrow the election last time.
Eduard: Yes, but only because he did not have control of the military. The senior generals made it clear they would not support his lawless intentions. He, or his successors, will not make that mistake again. He will replace all the senior generals with loyalists. He has already begun by firing the head of the Coast Guard. No one objected.
The chance of a free and fair election and transfer of power in four years time seems remote to me.
Ed: Will people revolt?
Eduard: In addition to his future control of the military, Trump has the support of the private militias, many of whose leaders were imprisoned for their January 6 crimes. Why do you think Trump released them? In any case, the right wing outguns all others — big time.
Ed: So, you feel the conservatives are winning all around then?
Eduard: Conservatives? It bothers me a lot the way the media continue to use that term to describe the Republican Party. There is very little that can be called conservative about the Party today. Its radical swing to the authoritarian leadership of one person, its complicacy in numerous Orwellian-like falsehoods, and the complete silence of its leadership over the numerous death threats that critics of Trump receive regularly, are just a few examples of its fascist behavior.
The big problem with the media continuing to call the Party that endorses these tactics conservative is that it helps to normalize extremist behavior.
Recall that Hitler was also democratically elected and then quickly abolished any democratic process. So far, Trump has been following Hitler’s playbook, particularly in convincing people that they cannot trust traditionally reliable news sources.
Trump is no student of history, except, it seems, for a few selected bits. One of his favorites is early 1930s Germany.
Ed: Another?
Eduard: How about The Indian Removal Act, which was supported by the president Trump admires so much, Andrew Jackson? The historic displacement of the Cherokee Nation from their lands is a model for Trump’s plan for Gaza.
Ed: What’s the next step for the Trumpians then?
Eduard: The anniversary date of the Reichstag fire that enabled Hitler to suspend civil liberties is coming up. Of course, the engineered incident that will help Trump seize even more power won’t happen on the exact same date, but it may be close.
Ed: Are the majority of Americans that gullible?
Eduard: Unfortunately, yes. I recall speaking with young Americans after the 2016 election. I was appalled that most had not voted. They told me that they believed there was no real difference between the parties. They didn’t realize they were regurgitating Russian propaganda they had swallowed on social media. They embraced all kinds of conspiracy theories — the wrong ones.
Americans are remarkably geopolitically ignorant. I recall 15 years ago, sitting at a table with about a dozen Europeans and Asians. I asked the person beside me where he was from. “Ukraine,” he replied. “Do you know where that is?”
“I’m not an American,” I answered.
Everyone laughed. They all got the joke.
“I love the poorly educated,” said Donald Trump.
Sadly, the fate of the world is in their hands.